Americans love their cars, but concerns over gas prices and the environment are likely to keep them open to alternatives. If buses prices continue to drop, inter-city bus travel will persevere in the coming years. That scenario is likely with the success of budget companies such as MegaBus and BoltBus. Throw in President Obama’s recent proposal for a high-speed rail, and the nation may be moving in a new direction.

Have you traveled by bus in the U.S.? Which route? How was it?
___________________________________________________________________________________Gennaro Salamone is the founder and editor of Enduring Wanderlust. Feel free to contact him with questions, comments, or inquiries with reference to contributing a travel article or photograph for publication.

Comments

I’ve taken buses a few times. There are some ridiculously low prices. Seen some as low as $1. I’ve done Philly to NYC. It was comfortable and cheap. I also liked that it dropped me off in the downtown. In the city itself not at an airport 45 minutes to an hour away. Big advantage for closer cities. Also didn’t want to drive into NYC. Parking is too expensive.

For shorter distances (less than 5 hours), I like bus travel. More than that I need to fly. Done a bunch of bus travel and it’s pretty comfortable. I’d like to see a high speed railway. That would be even more comfortable and quicker.

Think Americans love cars too much for either to take off too much in the next decade. After that the newer generations are likely to be a bit different.

I tend to take the train rather than the bus – between Philly and NYC and Philly and Vermont. I usually do the local trains to NYC because it is so much cheaper than Amtrak but it’s a little annoying – the rush to the train when you change in Trenton and the trains don’t have restrooms. Maybe I’ll try the Chinatown bus.

When I go to Vermont I take Amtrak – it takes longer than driving but it’s usually really pleasant.

I haven’t traveled a long distance by bus since I was kid. I went from Boston to Florida with my grandmother by Greyhound. We got trapped in the Port Authority on NYC on the way back for a couple of days because of the blizzard of ’78.

Train travel tends to be more comfortable than bus travel though more expensive in terms of the recent budget buses. Boston to Florida is quite the trip and that’s a cool experience. Though I’m sure it wasn’t at the time.

I hope that high-speed rail goes through. Will cut down on traffic. Much of the car journey anywhere in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic take forever because of the sheer number of cars on the road. In terms of bus travel, I did a trip from Jersey through the end of Virginia. Not too bad.

We were up in NYC this past week and we took the bus to the city. It was a short trip but the only problem was the gas fumes. The bus smelled like gas both on the way up and on the way back home which kind of made me feel sick. However, it was a lot cheaper than driving to NYC.

Port Authority is always crowded but it did seem more crowded than usual. So I am not surprised that more people are traveling by bus.

Unfortunately, I have not actually been to your country, so naturally, I do not have any experiences with busses in the U.S, and I am not able to make informed comment with regards to the convenience or comfort associated with this means of travel in your country.

That said, I have been travelling by long distance bus in Korea for four years, and I love it. It’s cheap, easy, comfortable, convenient and I find travelling time to be a wonderful time to relax, read a book, study some Korean or just sit back and enjoy the scenery of the beautiful countryside.

Bus travel is excellent in much of Asia. Agree that it’s a great opportunity to view the landscape of a country. Not to mention that the close proximity to others lends itself to chatting with others including locals.

@J.D. Meier

It would be an intriguing change for the States to have a greater focus on train travel especially a high-speed rail. Thinking it could work.

The last trip by bus I took was after spending the night stranded in an airline terminal when my flight was cancelled. The airline chartered a bus from Michigan to Chicago. It was comfortable enough but because I get motion sickness, bus travel isn’t something I’d consider.

I am in agreement with George, MegaBus (operating in the US, UK & Canada) provides excellent service in the Northeast Corridor Philly to NYC. As a side note, BoltBus which I had a great experience on traveling round trip from Philly to NYC to visit family in Manhattan is owned by the company that owns Greyhound). Not sure why they can’t take the level of service and cost back to improve the deplorable Greyhound.

I would also like to add that while many people compare our lack of rail service to Europe’s, the size and space that an American system would need to cover to reach population dense areas would be cost prohibitive. The EU’s population density is ~113 people/Sq mile, while the US is just 80. Having just spent 3 weeks traveling Turkey by bus, I would love the US to have a competitive and comfortable bus system comparable to what we found there, maybe Bolt and Mega bus are the start.